Rapid cook broiler with movable heat shields for improved temperature control

A rapid cook broiler, comprising:

• an interior chamber defined by a left wall, a right wall, a rear wall, an open front, and a bottom, said interior chamber divided into a lower cooking chamber and an upper heating chamber;
• cooking shelf support structure disposed on said left wall and said right wall of said lower cooking chamber;
• a movable cooking shelf disposed on said cooking shelf support structure;
• a partition dividing said heating chamber into left and right sides;
• a plurality of electric heating elements in each of said right and left side of said heating chamber;
• left and right sets of motorized movable heat shields disposed below said electric heating elements and configured as longitudinally rotatable parallel overlapping slats;
• linkages coupling each of said left and right sets of movable heat shields to an electric heat shield motor;
• left and right air blower manifolds disposed, respectively, in said left and right heating chambers, said left and right air blower manifold assemblies each having an air plenum, each with an air inlet in fluid communication with a motorized air blower and an array of air outlet holes disposed above each of said electric heating elements, wherein air in said plenum exits said air hole arrays under low pressure and is driven downwardly, alongside said heating elements and heat reflectors, to shape and direct the heat pattern over and onto food product on said movable cooking shelf;
• and
• a programmable controller having a user interface and programmed to control said electric heating elements, said air blower motor, and said heat shield motors.